


Crossroads (Part 3)

by thebluesthour



Series: Yeonbin Oneshots For the Soul [51]
Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Angst, Conflict Resolution, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Miscommunication, Soft Choi Yeonjun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:06:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27260185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebluesthour/pseuds/thebluesthour
Summary: Turns out, trying to surprise your wildly famous Korean pop idol boyfriend on his birthday was not as easy as it sounded.
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Series: Yeonbin Oneshots For the Soul [51]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870156
Comments: 14
Kudos: 192





	Crossroads (Part 3)

**Author's Note:**

> And here we are! Part 3! Thank you guys SO much for the support on this little miniseries! I really enjoyed writing it. 
> 
> Today is my birthday, so this was like a little birthday present to myself! I hope you enjoy. :) 
> 
> Leave suggestions [ here!](https://curiouscat.me/mapsoftheseouls)

Yeonjun checked the address on his phone again, before looking at the building in front of him. The last thing he wanted was to walk into the wrong photography studio and interrupt someone else’s session by mistake. He was already nervous being there, it wasn’t like him to surprise Soobin—their relationship didn’t really allow for many surprises considering everything they did had to be approved by a team of managers.

But Tomorrow by Together was having a closed (aka: private) photo shoot for their next mini-album and it coincidentally fell on the same day as Soobin’s birthday. Yeonjun had floated the idea by Beomgyu, not wanting to overstep, and the boy had been nothing if not encouraging. “Hyung’ll be so surprised! You really are the best boyfriend, I should take notes,” he had said. He passed along the plan to Soobin’s managers, and Yeonjun was actually shocked to hear back that they had agreed on the basis that Yeonjun be highly aware of his surroundings and arrive several hours after the photoshoot started and left before it ended.

It wasn’t ideal—nothing ever was—but Yeonjun took what he could get and prepared for the surprise. Beomgyu texted him the address, Yeonjun bought Soobin’s gift (a pair of silver paperclip earrings and a spare key to his apartment), and then the day came. They hadn’t seen each other in a few days due to the idol’s ridiculous schedule, and Yeonjun excitedly anticipated the look on Soobin’s face when he showed up out of the blue. Not to mention, he had never seen a professional photoshoot outside of the ones his dance studio sponsored, so that would be cool to witness as well.

After verifying the address, Yeonjun steeled himself and went up to the door. A staffer was waiting, and gave him a kind bow as they let him in. “Yeonjun-ssi, welcome,” they said. Unlike the managing board, the BigHit staffers were much nicer and polite to Yeonjun, treating him as an extension of Soobin himself. Yeonjun smiled, returning the bow and following the staffer through a winding maze of hallways. It was a good thing someone would lead him out, because there was no way he’d be able to remember on his own.

Suddenly, they walked through a doorway and entered into a huge room with high ceilings covered in ridiculously professional-looking lights and railings. Yeonjun’s neck arched as he looked at it all, a bit in awe. There was the echo of voices, the soft tinkling of music, and the atmosphere was something that Yeonjun could get used to. As he lowered his gaze and looked around he saw a large white backdrop dominating the centre of the room, backlit with what looked like thousands of different lights. A bunch of staffers dressed in all black flitted around doing their various tasks, and Yeonjun could see all of the equipment in front of the backdrop.

Off to the side were the stylists and temporary makeup stations, and it was all so high-end and expensive-looking. Yeonjun gulped, once again reminded of just how famous his boyfriend was. It was easy for him to forget, because the boy was one of the most level-headed and humbled people he had ever met. Yeonjun also hadn’t had a chance to see the group perform live due to the state of the world, so the lack of screaming fans only contributed to the illusion that Soobin was just an ordinary boy like him.

Of course, that illusion was shattered the second he remembered how micro-managed his relationship was, but he had grown used to it. So really, it was things like this that put everything back into perspective.

Yeonjun took a deep breath though and didn’t allow himself to be intimidated. The staffer pointed him in the direction of where the boys were supposed to be, and Yeonjun thanked them, bowing once. He started walking in the direction of the other side of the room, beyond the snack tables and around a corner, where the green rooms were supposedly located. A few more staffers bowed to him in greeting, and Yeonjun smiled and returned the bows warmly.

He gripped the little gift box in his hand tighter as he saw the door to the green room, taking a deep breath and lifting his hand to knock.

“Hyung?”

Yeonjun flinched, turning quickly and eyes popping as he saw Soobin walking towards him from his right side. Oh. This wasn’t quite what he was planning, but it would still work. Soobin’s brow was furrowed, and Yeonjun smiled brightly. “Hi, baby,” he said, walking to meet him halfway. Soobin didn’t return the smile, gaze flickering around them almost nervously. He dropped his voice when he spoke, eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

Yeonjun faltered a bit, not quite expecting this particular reaction. However, maybe Soobin was just really caught off-guard. So he smiled again, softer this time. “I was _trying_ to surprise you, silly,” he said light-heartedly, giggling a bit.

Again, Soobin didn’t relax his confused expression. He looked over his shoulder again, over at the staff, before looking back at Yeonjun. “I’m at work,” he said, a bit blunt. Yeonjun faltered finally at that, scrunching his brows. “I know,” he replied, starting to feel a bit confused himself. Soobin had never had this reaction to seeing him before. “But it’s your birthday, and so I wanted to-,”

“You need to leave.”

Yeonjun’s eyes widened, a sharp feeling of hurt hitting his gut. It twisted ugly inside of him, unfamiliar, and he didn’t know how to deal with it. Soobin had never made him feel this way before. “Soobin, I talked to Beomgyu-,” he started to say, but Soobin grabbed his elbow, dragging him towards the exit harshly. Yeonjun stumbled over his feet as he lost his balance, cheeks burning red as he saw some staffers watching them.

Soobin pulled him all the way to the doorway leading to the winding maze of hallways, before releasing him with a little push. “Go home,” he said, voice cold. Yeonjun paled at the tone, trying to figure out what exactly he had done to make Soobin so irritated. The taller turned away, but Yeonjun couldn’t just let him walk away, so he reached out a hand, grabbing the boy’s wrist. “Soobin, wait-,” he said, before being cut off for a third time as Soobin roughly shook his hand off and turned around, eyes fiery.

“Jesus Christ, Yeonjun, I’m at _work_ , I don’t have time to deal with whatever it is you came to tell me! Just because you have a free schedule and can do whatever you want doesn’t mean you can come and interrupt me!” he yelled, drawing the attention of some nearby stylists. Yeonjun couldn’t even be bothered to care, because all he could focus on was how awful he was feeling. He wasn’t much of a crier, but a lump was forming in his throat and he could feel tears prick behind his eyes.

He looked down, closing his eyes for a second before lifting his head and smoothing out his face. Soobin was still glaring at him, breathing hard, and so Yeonjun took a step back. “I’m late for my cue,” he said, his tone so clearly dismissive it made Yeonjun’s stomach twist. He turned then and stormed off without a glance. Yeonjun watched him go, his chest tightening as he felt his control slipping. He turned then too, rushing out of the studio and into the zigzagged hallways.

He tried his best to remember the route to the exit, but it was hard for him to focus when all he really wanted to do was sit down and cry. His mind was buzzing, anxious and dark thoughts bouncing around as it tried to reconcile what had just happened. He was so blindsided, so shocked that Soobin had had such a negative reaction to seeing him, and he tried to think back to see if he had missed any signs.

They had texted that morning when Yeonjun wished him a happy birthday, and Soobin had sent him an audio message thanking him so sweetly and telling him how excited he was to see him the next day. There was quite literally no indication that anything had been wrong.

As Yeonjun turned a corner, he bumped into someone. He fumbled a bit, before eventually righting himself and muttering an apology under his breath. He didn’t even look to see who it was—probably another staffer—and went to go on his way when the person spoke up.

“Yeonjun-hyung?”

It was Kai, and Yeonjun paled, swallowing nervously and keeping his gaze on his feet. He wrapped his fingers around the gift he hadn’t given Soobin, and hoped that Kai wouldn’t interrogate him too much. But the boy was curious by nature.

“Were you able to surprise Soobin-hyung? Oh man, did I miss it? I swear, the bathrooms are so hard to get to in this place—wait. Hyung?” his voice dropped considerably as he rested a hand on Yeonjun’s shoulder. It was then that Yeonjun realised there were hot tears dripping down his nose and he quickly lifted the back of his wrist to wipe them away. “Hyung, what happened?” Kai asked tenderly, worried.

Yeonjun swallowed around the lump in his throat and stood up straight. He forced a smile and patted the hand on his shoulder. “Nothing happened, Hyuka,” he tried to reassure. It was painfully obvious that Kai didn’t believe him for a second, but before he could ask more questions, Yeonjun thrust Soobin’s gift into his hand. “Could you make sure Soobin gets this?” he asked. And he didn’t wait for an answer before turning and walking away quickly.

Thankfully, the exit was at the end of the hallway and he sped up his gait, pushing the doors open and sighing as a gust of cold winter air hit him. He blinked rapidly, looking both ways before he crossed the street to catch a train home.

He managed to hold back his tears until he got inside his apartment, but then they flowed freely. He stood in his living room for a second, trying to think of what to do, but all his brain wanted to do was sit and fester on what had just happened.

But he didn’t want to wallow in his sadness pathetically, so he did his best to distract himself. He hadn’t cleaned his apartment in a while, so he set about doing that. He dusted his surfaces, wiped down the kitchen counters, even reorganised his linen closet. It helped a little, but the weight on his shoulders never ceased, and he knew the second he finished cleaning he was going to have a breakdown.

He had some laundry he could fold, so he went to do that, except as he did, he came across a lot of Soobin’s clothes and he started getting upset again. He had no idea where they stood, if Soobin was going to surprise him with a breakup or not. Yeonjun wasn’t a paranoid person, but he had been thrown such a curve ball it wasn’t unusual for him to be jumping to the furthest conclusions.

He finished the laundry, putting Soobin’s clothes in the dresser drawer he had claimed a month or so ago, and then he took a shower.

When he was clean and dressed in some sweats and a night shirt he went into his kitchen because he knew he needed to eat. He had some leftover tteokbokki that he mixed with some rice, and he took the bowl to his room, blowing on the steam to cool it down. He settled on his bed and turned on his laptop.

This wasn’t exactly how he imagined spending the evening of his boyfriend’s birthday, especially not the first one they’d spent together. But there was nothing Yeonjun could do about it and he wasn’t going to text Soobin until morning maybe. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb him while he was working, since he so clearly did not want to be disturbed.

He ate his food and watched an anime quietly, feeling a bit numb from suppressing his emotions for so long. He was growing tired, and he didn’t see the point in staying up, so he resolved to go to bed as soon as he finished eating.

About ten minutes later, he swallowed his last bite and paused his anime, standing up and stretching. He stood in place for a moment, sighing sadly and glancing at his phone. It hadn’t lit up with any messages, and he knew Soobin was finished with the shoot, so he knew that he was probably still angry. He rubbed his eyes, before walking out of his room and going to the kitchen. He rinsed out his bowl and put it in the dishwasher, turning off the lamp in his living room and leaving just the singular light on over his stove.

He covered up a yawn as he crossed to his bathroom, brushing his teeth quickly and letting a stray tear fall. After running a brush through his hair he remembered he needed to pack his lunch for his practice tomorrow, and so he walked back out to the kitchen.

Only as he did he saw a tall shadowy figure standing in his entryway, looking around, and Yeonjun couldn’t stop himself from flinching violently and shrieking.

Soobin’s eyes widened as he jumped too, moving into the dim light and holding his hands up. “It’s me! It’s just me, hyung,” he said quickly.

Yeonjun stared at him as he gasped, the fear still settling over him. Soobin looked back at him, looking like a deer caught in headlights, lips pressed together. Yeonjun pressed a hand over his heart, slouching a bit as he leaned against the wall for a second. “Fuck, you scared me,” he murmured.

He stood up straight, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at Soobin. What was he doing here? It was late, how did he manage to escape his security team? Soobin only swallowed, lowering his arms and glancing down at his own left hand.

“I, uh…used the key you gave me,” he replied. Yeonjun’s own eyes flickered down and he saw the silver gleam in the darkness. He trained his gaze back on Soobin, and saw a look of guilt and shame decorating his usually gentle features. He just nodded, before looking down at his feet.

It was so awkward and tense and Yeonjun hated it. He absolutely hated it. He heard Soobin move forward a few paces, before stopping in front of Yeonjun. He wasn’t that close, but Yeonjun could still smell his cologne. “I was going to call, but I…I really wanted to see you,” he said slowly. “So that I could apologise in person.”

Yeonjun peeked up at him at that, arms still crossed protectively over his chest, and he could see the desperation in Soobin’s eyes. The younger bit his lip, before clasping his hands together behind his back. “Hyung,” he began.

“I’m so sorry for how I spoke to you today, and how I treated you. I was frustrated because the shoot wasn’t going well and I took it out on you and I regretted what I said as soon as you were gone. I don’t expect you to forgive me, and I understand if you would want to break up because of it. I can’t even imagine how exhausting it must be to be with someone like me.”

When he finished, Yeonjun looked at him, unblinking. Soobin’s eyes were shining, and he just gave a little nod, taking a step back. His words ran over and over in Yeonjun’s head, like a reel, and he was having trouble thinking of a good response. He believed Soobin, believed the sincerity in his voice and the expression on his face, but his emotions were all over the place and it was making it so hard for him to speak.

Soobin must have interpreted his silence as confirmation of wanting to be left alone, so he placed the key on the kitchen counter. “I’ll go,” he said. Before he could turn though, Yeonjun stopped him, dropping his arms to his sides.

“Soobin.”

The younger’s head snapped up, teeth digging into his lower lip, and Yeonjun took a step closer. He grabbed the key off the counter and then grabbed Soobin’s hand, pressing it into his palm. “I don’t want to break up with you,” he replied. Soobin’s fingers curled over the key and Yeonjun’s hand, and he nodded, staying quiet. Yeonjun looked at him, before grasping his hand and sitting them both down on the couch.

Soobin let go of his hand to slip the key into his pocket, and Yeonjun gathered it back up when he was finished. It seemed to put Soobin at ease. “Can you tell me what happened? I’ve never seen you like that, baby, I had no idea what to make of it, I still don’t,” he asked. Soobin sighed, moving closer so his thigh pressed up against Yeonjun’s. He ran his thumb over the elder’s knuckles, and Yeonjun’s racing heart calmed a little.

“I was just so irritated, and I know that’s not an excuse, but it just seemed like everything was going wrong and the fact that it was my birthday and I wasn’t with you was upsetting me.” He laughed at that, humourlessly. “And of course, because I’m an idiot, I let out my anger on you even though you’re the one I wanted to see most.”

Yeonjun nodded, lowering his head. He felt Soobin’s hand hesitantly brush through his hair, and he sighed, closing his eyes as he automatically leaned into the touch. “It will never happen again, I promise,” he whispered. Yeonjun peered up at Soobin, who continued to stroke his hair, and he nodded again. “It’s not exhausting dating you, by the way,” he muttered. Soobin blushed, hand sliding to massage the back of Yeonjun’s neck as he leaned against the couch cushions.

“Hyung, I know it has to be at some points,” he admitted. “And I just hope you know that despite my actions today, I will never ever forget how much you sacrifice to be with me.” Yeonjun furrowed his brow, sitting up a bit and releasing Soobin’s hand to cup his cheek. “It’s not a sacrifice, Soobin,” he argued. Soobin swallowed, staring into Yeonjun’s eyes. Yeonjun stood up then, pulling Soobin with him. “It’s late, we can talk more in the morning, okay?” he suggested.

Soobin agreed, and Yeonjun pulled them both to his bedroom. The older went to his dresser and got Soobin some pajamas, handing them to him. The younger smiled weakly, stepping into Yeonjun’s bathroom to change and brush his teeth. Yeonjun took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes. The day had been exhausting and all he wanted to do was curl up in Soobin’s arms and sleep. The relief he had felt earlier still lingered in his system and kept his anxiety and paranoia at bay, for which he was so grateful.

When Soobin returned, dressed down in his sweats and nightshirt, Yeonjun turned to him. Soobin waited a beat, before pulling Yeonjun into his arms and hugging him tightly. Yeonjun melted into it instantly, eyes closing as he rested his cheek on his boyfriend’s shoulder and locked his arms around his waist. Soobin’s own cheek pressed to Yeonjun’s shoulder and the older whispered into his ear. “Happy birthday, baby.”

Soobin squeezed him tighter, turning his head so his lips were at Yeonjun’s ear. “I love you, hyung. I’m sorry the timing is shit, but I do, I really do.”

Yeonjun squeezed his eyes shut tighter and pressed himself closer to the boy he too had fallen in love with. “I love you too,” he replied, easy as breathing. He heard Soobin’s breath hitch, and then the two parted.

They stared at each other, before getting into bed. Yeonjun turned off his lamp before going and curling up in Soobin’s embrace. Their heads shared a pillow, legs tangled together, and Yeonjun didn’t hesitate before pulling Soobin in for a kiss.

It was sweet, chaste, and fulfilling. All the unspoken words, feelings, and actions were translated through the kiss, and Yeonjun felt contented. Soobin’s arms kept him so safe, and he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

As they parted and pressed even closer, Soobin whispering sweet nothings in his ear, Yeonjun shivered. Today might not have been a good day, but at least it had a happy ending. He knew he and Soobin would have many more obstacles to face as their relationship continued, but he knew that they would be able to overcome them all together.

**Author's Note:**

> What'd you think? I kind of am tempted to turn this into a chaptered fic....


End file.
